8-0 is an absolutely unacceptable performance!!

[Jawge]

karl it's more than that. Ja lack a firm grasp of the fundamentals of the game.We need to return to just passing and controlling the ball.

[myYout]

Poor defending main culprit, to much standing aroun or nah come to di ball or pick up di runnahs dem. Di three main features ah effective defending. If yuh gi big ballah some much space an time yuh ago get hurt. wi defense static all di time. From Tappa to now it nuh change. Di ongle time wi defen relatively well was di inna di gold cup, prior to US game. Ball beat goalie pan near post, dat nuh fi happen, but attackah get whole day fi line up di shot. Until wi can master den three tings wi always ah guh inna problem. Wi defensive style an structure mus change, ah doan know how dis nuh identified yet as wi main weakness.

[Plush]

While I didn't see all of the game but I'm not surprised at all. It is very humiliating but as one poster said, it is a solid reality check on where we are as a team. We can't play a team like France with our best Midefielder being Austin who can't pass the ball to save his life. We also Can't play a team like france who are strong in Midfield witha 4-3-3 formation...We needed a compact midfield to prevent balls from getting to strikers...Truth be told, we didn't have the players on the field or on the Bench to play a team like France.

Time to go back to the drawing board and wheel and come again...We have been saying this for years, We need a better Midefield...If J Watson was playing the Result would have probably been a bit better...same Mcanuff even though I'm not a big fan....These guys can compete though....

Let's work on the Midefield...

We have Keepers...Ricketts, Blake, McCallum...They can compete

Defenders - Morgan, Nosworthy, Mariappa, Philips...Promising Lawrence, Powell, etc, they will be able to compete

Midefielders...We suck real bad here...Austin Is a tackler...after that his duty is done...Watson...Ok some days and bad the other...he is better than most of what we have in the team now though...Grant will do well against weaker opponents.....We need a few more solid Middle Men

Strikers: Seaton, Dawkins, (Forget his name but former portmore man that plays with Philips), Shelton, Puncheon, Brown, Dino, (Mattocks....popular but I'm not a fan yet)......we can build here...

Then offcourse we have some talent youngsters such as Omar Holness and the like. There is a lot to work with...but we need alot of work

[Jangle]

Funny how a 8-0 trashing by a highly tuned and World Cup ready side like France against our hastily prepared side is causing us to do a lot of soul searching. We have to take from this game what it is. It was a friendly against a team with players who play at much higher level than all the players in our team. France has been in camp, working on tactics and strategies and call us for one thing - to carry out thier dress rehersal.

Did any of us really thought the French saw us as equals on the football field? They are currently ranked 64 places above us by FIFA and from what we saw, that rank is no lie!

While the results were lopsided, it tells us one thing. We have a lot f work to do and we shoud not be fooled by the previous results against Serbia, Switzerland and Egypt that we are out of the woods as we are not even close! I am glad that we didn't lose like 2-1 to France, then we left with the misconception that we are not too far off from these powerhouses in terms of quality, as we are really not. Sometimes reality checks like these have their benefits. Now Schaffer can now have a better idea what he has to do to get this team to a level where he will spare us results like these and the blushes many of us go through after the matches.

Thank you sir.

[Karl]

That 1-1 draw with France at the U17 level was with local footballers.

I know.
The talent was there. It was apparent the teaching was not done as as TEAM we were terribly awful!!!

Please remind me of the year?
I think the tournament was in Mexico????

[Karl]

"and those players from our local leagues play as they do because of lack of good teaching within our local football education system"...

I disagree. I think they "play as they do"..."because of lack of good teaching within our local EDUCATION system", not "local FOOTBALL EDUCATION system". Our inability to learn football (and everything else) stems from our deplorable school system. Fix that, and our football, economy, social order etc. etc. etc. will follow. And it is a fix, because at one time, it was not broken - at least, it was far better than it is now.

I tell people up here in America that when I went to JC in 1972, we had a horseback riding club, a shooting team, cadets, scouts etc. etc. Teachers would come from England to Jamaica to teach - Americans look at me in disbelief. But as you know, that was then, now it's a joke. That is the system that produced great cricketers (our sport of choice back then) like Rowe, Foster, Holding, etc. And let's not forget the generation of gentlemen cricketers before them (Headley etc.). Anyway, you are old enough to get my point.

Who am I to fight

they "play as they do"..."because of lack of good teaching within our local EDUCATION system", not "local FOOTBALL EDUCATION system".

I agree with you FULL 100 that we have a poor system.
...and that fixing would lead to 'better' in every area.

Good chat, sah.

Yuh notice seh mi lef hout yuh laas sentence?
Independence?
I wonder what went wrong? ...but that is for another day!!!

[Karl]

Funny how a 8-0 trashing by a highly tuned and World Cup ready side like France against our hastily prepared side is causing us to do a lot of soul searching. We have to take from this game what it is. It was a friendly against a team with players who play at much higher level than all the players in our team. France has been in camp, working on tactics and strategies and call us for one thing - to carry out thier dress rehersal.

I think you put the exclamation point on Paul's post that pointed to failure(s) in our education system. See:

http://www.reggaeboyzsc.com/forum1/s...345#post481345

Did any of us really thought the French saw us as equals on the football field? They are currently ranked 64 places above us by FIFA and from what we saw, that rank is no lie!

What in Heaven's name does this have to do with our standard of play in context of replication of what we were taught?

While the results were lopsided, it tells us one thing. We have a lot f work to do and we shoud not be fooled by the previous results against Serbia, Switzerland and Egypt that we are out of the woods as we are not even close! I am glad that we didn't lose like 2-1 to France, then we left with the misconception that we are not too far off from these powerhouses in terms of quality, as we are really not. Sometimes reality checks like these have their benefits. Now Schaffer can now have a better idea what he has to do to get this team to a level where he will spare us results like these and the blushes many of us go through after the matches.

Now you are talking! ...and it leads right back to Paul's assertion that our education system...inclusive of the specialist football education area...needs fixing.

[Tilla]

What in Heaven's name does this have to do with our standard of play in context of replication of what we were taught?

I am keeping it real Karl. We and the French are not in the same realm when it comes to football and although some of us are deluding ourselves, we need to come back to reality. OK, let me give you another analogy. It is like the current US military fighting against the US Military of the 1920s. There is so much separating the two technologically, that you can say it with certainty that the current military would win. Total annihilation of the older less advanced unit should be expected.

Now, as to replication of what we are taught, do you think we didn't try to put forward or replicate what we were taught? The fact of the matter is, the French's game and movement just did not allow us to do it. We were taken out of our game, then ripped to shreds!

We have to put things into perspective and remember, this is a young and inexperienced Jamaican side pulled together at last minute to meet the contractual requirements for the occasion. A few English based players were thrown in as to give the impression of us fielding our strongest side, but it was not our best or most well prepared side by any stretch of the imagination. We were learning as we went along in the few games and it was just not enough against a World Cup ready France.

[Paul Marin]

Funny how a 8-0 trashing by a highly tuned and World Cup ready side like France against our hastily prepared side is causing us to do a lot of soul searching. We have to take from this game what it is. It was a friendly against a team with players who play at much higher level than all the players in our team. France has been in camp, working on tactics and strategies and call us for one thing - to carry out thier dress rehersal.

Did any of us really thought the French saw us as equals on the football field? They are currently ranked 64 places above us by FIFA and from what we saw, that rank is no lie!

While the results were lopsided, it tells us one thing. We have a lot f work to do and we shoud not be fooled by the previous results against Serbia, Switzerland and Egypt that we are out of the woods as we are not even close! I am glad that we didn't lose like 2-1 to France, then we left with the misconception that we are not too far off from these powerhouses in terms of quality, as we are really not. Sometimes reality checks like these have their benefits. Now Schaffer can now have a better idea what he has to do to get this team to a level where he will spare us results like these and the blushes many of us go through after the matches.

Tilla - I think that you are mistaken when you say that some of us think that "we are not too far off from these powerhouses in terms of quality"-- I certainly don't believe that...however...8-0!?? Seriously!!?? When have you seen that in recent years? Even looking at the other warm up games going on now, the worst result before this was a 4-0. Look at El Salvador, they were not even in the hex, put in a decent showing against Spain. I am not saying that we should have expected to be in the same league as France, but we can expect a team of professionals to put in a more competitive performance. There is no argument though that a wake up call is a good thing as long as you don't go napping again in future!

[Karl]

Now, as to replication of what we are taught, do you think we didn't try to put forward or replicate what we were taught? .

We did what we were taught. We were taught 'crap'...and in the last several days, we have reproduced 'the crap' we have been taught!

btw - I loved your analogy of current cutting edge v obsolete ancient discarded ways.

[Mosiah]

Tilla - I think that you are mistaken when you say that some of us think that "we are not too far off from these powerhouses in terms of quality"-- I certainly don't believe that...however...8-0!?? Seriously!!?? When have you seen that in recent years? Even looking at the other warm up games going on now, the worst result before this was a 4-0. Look at El Salvador, they were not even in the hex, put in a decent showing against Spain. I am not saying that we should have expected to be in the same league as France, but we can expect a team of professionals to put in a more competitive performance. There is no argument though that a wake up call is a good thing as long as you don't go napping again in future!

Go back to Stonigut's original statement - 8-0 is unacceptable! PERIOD!

[Stonigut]

The tiny point is you cannot assemble a pickup squad and play the hottest football team and expect to get something from it. Hey I don't want to give you no more advantage than a tiny point as you might start adding two and two and get six. I agree with that basic point on hurry come up team assembly but that is it, the team yesterday should have been tight and compact and instead they were sliced and diced and run out of town like a flea infested cur mongrel that had no place being there except to collect a firm couple kicks in the rear, only padded by a tail tightly coiled and retracted between its legs. Pathetic and embarassing.

[Don1]

Stoni perhaps you don't yet realize... but my tiny point goes waaaay beyond any one game. It concerns strategic policy.

Jamaica needs good football development policy.... not more of the same myopia that you appear to support

[Stonigut]

Me know, but how you going to support that. Cyan justify government money spend on football development when we cant even get the children literate enough across the board to compete for even basic service and manufacturing type jobs much less to even get a shot at getting such jobs at all in Jamaica. The reality is with ballgame is you have to entice the donkey with a carrot to get him moving. World cup is the carrot and the donkey is the private sector.

[Don1]

This is a specious argument we've heard since 1998 to excuse the failure to address what football SHOULD be about i.e. development. It is stunning but instructive that you parrot this bankrupt argument so openly.

It is not the government's job to drive football player development... nor is it particularly expensive in the scheme of things. Many here, including I, have advanced affordable development plans.

This rubbish about World Cup qualification sparking development was disproved post 1998 and should be put to bed. After the 1998 WCQ hysteria died down what happened in development?? Precious little. What drives development is vision, planning & execution... not WCQ

Stoni you should really be ashamed to post such drivel. Are you feeling well?